Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, Zetas Cartel Leader, Captured By Mexican Marines In Nuevo Laredo [VIDEO]

In the biggest drug arrest since Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December 2012, Mexican marines intercepted a pickup truck in which Miguel ángel Treviño Morales was traveling on a dirt road near Nuevo Laredo, not far from the Texas border. Treviño Morales, 40, had seven arrest warrants in Mexico and was the subject of 12 preliminary investigations for murder, organized crime and torture, including the kidnapping and murder of 265 migrants in the state of Tamaulipas. The kingpin, who was dubbed El Z-40 or Muerte ("Death") also faced drug and gun charges in the United States, which had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Mexican authorities said after authorities gave chase in vehicles and a helicopter, Treviño Morales' pickup stopped without a single shot fired. Inside, authorities found $2 million - he was reputed to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars on him at all times for bribes in case of a run-in with authorities - nine weapons and 500 rounds of ammunition.

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The capture marked a huge victory for the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, which has been accused by the opposition of being soft on the cartels after Peña Nieto pledged to scale back his predecessor Felipe Calderón's efforts to nab high-profile suspects. During Calderón's six years in office, some 70,000 Mexicans were killed in related violence.

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The onetime US ambassador to Mexico under George Bush, Tony Garza, told the Dallas Morning Star, "This is a big hit, and you can't underestimate the signal it sends to the Zetas, and to those within other organizations that have chosen to resort to what can only be called 'narco-terrorism.'"

"More broadly," he added, "I think this administration is saying they mean business."

Art Fontes, a former FBI agent who worked in Mexico until late last year, told the New York Times, "He had all of Mexico and a lot of Central America under his tentacles. He was feared everywhere he went."

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According to Animal Politico, the Mexican government still considers four Zeta leaders "highly dangerous" suspects, including Omar Treviño Morales ("El Z-42"), the younger brother of Miguel ángel. None of them were on the original 2004 list of the 30 most wanted Zetas, of which only one suspect remains at large. The Zetas are said to control nearly all of the main routes leading into the United States through northern Mexico, and Treviño Morales was said to have used a brother in the United States to launder tens of millions of dollars in drug proceeds.

In response to news of the arrest, the US Drug Enforcement Administration released a statement congratulating the government of Mexico. "His ruthless leadership has now come to an end," it read.